Stiliyana Minkovska
London, UK – Sculpture/Design
Erotic Kit for Internal Selfies 01, 02 & 03, 2016
Organic Walnut wood with waterproof camera for internal investigation in a beautifully crafted plywood box
30 cm x 15 x 15 cm (framed)
£500 each
The pregnant female body became the site for a project with its all physiological, psychological, emotional and material transformations. The mother could feel constant tumult as the baby hiccupped, flexed her body and tested with elbows, knees and feet the limits of her inner space. The baby became a bulky, impertinent, spirited presence within the maternal-feminine body, simultaneously an integral part of her and an independent entity.
The Erotic Kit would like to expand the limited metaphors used to illustrate pregnancy. The author would like to find a highly spatial language, which would allow the project to evolve into a tangible quality.
Stiliyana practises across the wide intercourses of art, architectural, interior, product design, making and human-centred research.
Her interest in healthcare with particular emphasis in the maternity wards and the birth centres has also been reflected in her artwork. Her projects are narrative-based. She combines real scenarios with imaginary settings through story-telling, which evoke macro questions from a micro sampling.
Ultima Thule, 2020
‘Labour Silla, Solace Chaise, Parturition Stool’
Ultima Thule is a project that interrogates the design landscape of childbirth within a hospital setting.
* The chairs prototypes are currently hosted at St Thomas Hospital and they can be reproduced upon request
Ultima Thule presents an alternative to the hospital birthing environment – a space that I feel has been designed to allow for certain harmful procedures and techniques. My research reimagines the technological and institutional elements of the birth setting, and instead proposes a sanctuary-like environment for both mother and child. In this space, the mother has greater control over of their delivery and reproductive health. Here, they can embody multiple roles, including that of parent, but also partner.
Artist’s bio:
Stiliyana Minkovska is a qualified architect (ARB/RIBA). She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2016 (Hons). She qualified as an Architect in 2018 from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. She recently completed a residency programme with the Design Museum, where she advanced further the research she commenced at the RCA and where she created and exhibited ‘Ultima Thule’ in Jan-May 2020.